Once Zed got word to his friends and family, they were of course eager to help. He knew everyone wanted to make their own lives a little easier, but there was something in Zevon's eyes that made Zed know his dad was thinking of grandchildren. Typical parent chomping at the bit to be a grandparent. Sheesh.

Addison wanted to take the day off and come help, but Zed told her not to.

"Steve and I have this. We've got a system and you'll be bored watching us mix things all day."

She begrudgingly agreed. Which was a good thing, since Zed's actual worry was that getting the samples wasn't pleasant. Scraping skin cells and drawing "blood" wasn't something he thought she'd be good with.

So that's where he found himself that day. Poking, prodding, and scraping his closest friends and family, all in the name of science.

"I'm really sorry, guys," he apologized again.

"Son, it's fine," Zevon said through gritted teeth as the needle poked him. "We want to help."

"Anything for my future nieces and nephews!" Zoey teased.

Zed shook his head as he continued to draw the zombie blood. "Zo, come on! Addy and I've only been married for a few weeks!"

Zoey shrugged. "I'm just sayin'."

Bonzo placed a hand on Zed's shoulder. "Gar'zm grooz! Lor zin zaggy quad Breeska, zend zoll broo poz zin zaggy quad Addiska." (I'm in! To be happy with Bree and so you can be happy with Addy.)

Zed smiled. Of course Bonzo wanted Zed and Addy to be happy, but he also wanted an easier life with Bree. He shared all the same concerns as Zed, after all.

"Yeah, buddy. Absolutely. We're gonna make this work so we can all be happy."

He got to Eliza, who grumpily stuck out her arm, waiting to get pinched.

"I know you don't get much out of this, E," Zed said with an apology in his tone as he inserted the needle.

She hissed for a second. "Look, I might not be engaged to a cheerleader, and I might not give a damn about whether people like me or not because I'm a zombie, because I'm proud of it, but if I can keep from Confinement battery changes and the fear that I'll accidentally eat someone and set all of Zombie-kind back 30 years, or… give my nieces and nephews a better life" she added with a grin. "Well, I'm down for that."

Zed returned her smile. "Aww, Auntie Eliza! You'll be the best babysitter!"

"Hey, don't go dumping your future spawn on me just yet!"

Zoey laughed. "Come on, Eliza! With Addison's good looks, you know the kids will be adorable! You'll want to watch them every now and then!"

"Hurtful!" Zed said as he removed the needle from Eliza. "I'm good looking too!"

"Whatever," Zoey snipped. "All I'm saying is I'm picturing a little girl that looks just like Addy, with pale skin, green hair, and pretty blue eyes."

Zed got wistful at that. Truth be told, that was the exact picture he had of their first child too.

"Can we get this done before the kids start arriving?" he said, shaking himself from those thoughts. "There's a ton of work to do first."

Even with all the new and different samples, Zed and Steve were finding very few new and distinctive traits to fight against.

Steve sat back in his chair, hand to his temples, pleased but still cautious. "Think you could get more samples, just to be safe?"

"Probably, yeah. But I'm happy with what we have here. There's not much changing between everyone, so there's probably not too much to work against. The solution is doing well on every test."

"True, and I'm really pleased with what we have, but Z, if you're going to test it on yourself…"

"I know, I know. I'll get 5 more samples. If that all goes to plan, we take a bigger sample from me. If that works… then we press on."

Steve nodded. They were going to make this work, he just knew it.

Two weeks later, Zed was confident in the other 5 findings. Steve took a much bigger "blood" sample than he was comfortable with, some hairs, a swab of the inside of Zed's mouth, and a large scrape of skin cells.

"Go home, dude," Steve said. "I put you through the wringer today. We'll see what this looks like tomorrow but I really think it's time to warn Addison."

"Yeah, ok. Thanks," Zed replied, pinching the bridge of his nose. It had definitely been a hard day. "I should probably talk to her tonight about this."

"Good luck, man. If you don't show up tomorrow, I'll know she locked you in the closet."

Zed laughed, but there was the possibility that Addison would freak out over this new step of the process.

Addison was home early that day, so when she saw an even paler than usual Zed walk in, she panicked.

"What's wrong?"

He fell onto the couch. "I'm ok, just really tired."

"What's with the bandage?" she asked, motioning to his arm.

"Skin sample. It'll heal quickly."

She sat next to him and stroked his cheek. "Zed, you don't look so hot."

"Why do you always tell me that?" he said, trying to sound teasing.

"Because you always do something stupid that gets you into these predicaments."

"I've already admitted that hacking my Z-band was a mistake, but this is science and this for us. Not for football or dates at the ice cream parlor."

"To the point of collapsing?"

He didn't want to snap at her, but he did want her to drop it. "Addy, I'm fine. I had Steve push me a little harder today to get some samples, but it's fine. I'll be my normal charming self in an hour."

"And how will you be if you are the guinea pig for this?"

"We'll just have to find out. Listen, I know you aren't going to like this, but I need you to talk to your Dad about getting me into Zombie Containment and—"

"What?!" she interrupted. "No. No way."

He sat up a little and put a hand on her leg. "Addison, listen to me. While I have tons of confidence that this is going to work, I'm not going to take my Z-band off if there's even a chance that it doesn't work. I need to be kept safe for a few days."

"A few days? Zed, this is crazy. Even if it doesn't work, you'd never hurt me."

"Not negotiable, Addy. You can visit me, but I refuse to roam free. And just think of the reunion we can have when I'm out." He waggled his eyebrows in the hopes of making her laugh.

It didn't work.

She crossed her arms. "Zed, I don't like this."

"I didn't expect you to, but this is how it has to be. We'll see tomorrow how the tests from today came out. And then the next day, we see how it works on me."

"I don't want to lose you," she whispered as she laid her head on his chest.

"Not happening," he said as he stroked her hair. "You, my love, are still stuck with me. I love you too much to let this come between us."

She climbed onto and straddled his lap. "Show me."

He carried her to their bedroom and did just that.

The following day, Zed was in the lab before Steve, staring at the results.

"Hey, man," Steve said as he entered. "How's it look?"

"Perfect," Zed replied. "Everything came out just like we wanted."

"That's… good, right?"

"Yeah, yeah it is. But now comes the tricky part."

Steve took the chair next to Zed. "Let's get everything ready. Did Addison's dad get you a nice room?"

Zed chuckled sarcastically. "Yeah, I'm sure to get the VIP suite in Containment."

"I mean, it'll be somewhat ok, right? You are the Patrol Chief's son-in-law."

"You'd be surprised just how little that wins me. I'm not expecting much, but with Addy, well, the seas just part when she gets determined," Zed said, parting his hands in example. "So I guess I'll find out tomorrow."

"All right, well, we'll get everything set up. Let's get that heart beating!"

"Steve, I gotta thank you. I couldn't have made any of this happen without you."

"Hey, when we're medical legends for curing this, then you won't have to thank me," Steve replied with a slap to the back.

"Fair enough, man. Fair enough."

When Zed returned home, he found Dale and Addison talking. His father-in-law turned to him.

"So, Addison tells me you think you can cure what's wrong with you."

Zed resisted every urge he had to say that it wasn't really what was "wrong" with him. No sense angering the man that held his fate for the next few days.

"Well, we think we can eliminate the Z-bands, yeah. But I want to keep all of us safe during the testing, so that's where you come in. I'm sure Addy has filled you in."

"Yes, she has. And I commend you for keeping her safe during this. I assure you that everything will be on the up and up in containment."

"And…" Addison urged.

"I was getting to that," Dale said. "And, of course, you won't be in the normal Containment wing. But you will be under constant surveillance and monitoring."

"Perfect! I request that, actually. I want the results to be well-documented. If this works, Dale, I expect that others will want to go through the same thing and I want humans to know that those that undergo the treatment are safe."

"Yes, well, let's get through this and then I will work on that."

It wasn't the guarantee Zed was hoping for, but about the response he expected.

"Great. Then I will see you there tomorrow morning. My partner Steve will be there to administer the treatment and we'll go from there."

"Fine. I'll see you then. Bye, Addy." He kissed Addison goodbye and left.

"He'll take care of you. I'll see to that," she said.

"You'll take care of me, I suspect. But that's fine. Anything to make this work."

Addison stared into his eyes. There was no way that in a few days' time she would lose him. She had to remain confident.

She took a deep breath. "So, dinner will be ready soon. Meatloaf and cauliflower," she said, leading him to the kitchen.

"My last meal of brains?" he laughed.

"Please don't call it a last meal," she thought.

"No, just something special. I might have put some extra red peppers in there too."

"Aw, that's my girl," he said with a kiss to the top of her head.

The rest of the night was spent with periods of not-so-comfortable silence. Each of them was deep in thought about what the next few days would bring.